FFBC vs. SFNC, FRME, CBU, TRMK, NBTB, FULT, TBBK, WSBC, CHCO, and BANF
Should you be buying First Financial Bancorp. stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of First Financial Bancorp. include Simmons First National (SFNC), First Merchants (FRME), Community Bank System (CBU), Trustmark (TRMK), NBT Bancorp (NBTB), Fulton Financial (FULT), Bancorp (TBBK), WesBanco (WSBC), City (CHCO), and BancFirst (BANF). These companies are all part of the "regional banks" industry.
Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) and First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, earnings, risk, media sentiment, valuation, community ranking, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.
First Financial Bancorp. received 4 more outperform votes than Simmons First National when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 48.47% of users gave Simmons First National an outperform vote while only 46.59% of users gave First Financial Bancorp. an outperform vote.
In the previous week, First Financial Bancorp. had 4 more articles in the media than Simmons First National. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for First Financial Bancorp. and 3 mentions for Simmons First National. First Financial Bancorp.'s average media sentiment score of 1.31 beat Simmons First National's score of 0.63 indicating that Simmons First National is being referred to more favorably in the media.
First Financial Bancorp. has a net margin of 20.74% compared to First Financial Bancorp.'s net margin of 11.97%. Simmons First National's return on equity of 11.22% beat First Financial Bancorp.'s return on equity.
27.6% of Simmons First National shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.2% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are held by institutional investors. 1.9% of Simmons First National shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
First Financial Bancorp. has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Simmons First National. First Financial Bancorp. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Simmons First National, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Simmons First National has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Financial Bancorp. has a beta of 1.04, meaning that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Simmons First National pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. First Financial Bancorp. pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Simmons First National pays out 63.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Financial Bancorp. pays out 37.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Simmons First National has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Simmons First National is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Simmons First National currently has a consensus price target of $21.00, indicating a potential upside of 13.94%. First Financial Bancorp. has a consensus price target of $24.67, indicating a potential upside of 4.25%. Given First Financial Bancorp.'s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Simmons First National is more favorable than First Financial Bancorp..
Summary
First Financial Bancorp. beats Simmons First National on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding FFBC and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartThis chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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